20 Feb. 2007

Lawyers for the plaintiffs said they planned to appeal the ruling to the US Supreme Court, which has previously handed setbacks to the Bush administration over handling of its war on terrorism.

You might also want to know that this 2-1 majority ruling for the Bush junta was delivered by Judge A Raymond Randolph. What kind of guy is he?

A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday threw out a lawsuit that sought details about Vice President Dick Cheney's 2001 energy policy task force that critics say secretly formed policy favorable to the industry.The unanimous ruling ordered a federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit by the Sierra Club environmental group and the watchdog group Judicial Watch that sought to learn about contacts between task force members and industry executives."We hold that plaintiffs have failed to establish any duty, let alone a clear and indisputable duty, owed to them by the federal government" under the law in question, the Federal Advisory Committee Act, Judge A. Raymond Randolph wrote in the 13-page ruling...

Judge Raymond Randolph, appointed by George [H.W.] Bush in 1990, ruled that Microsoft did not illegally "tie" the browser to its market-dominant operating system.

...And SAY! what do you know?

He is with the George Mason University Law and Economics Center - funded by Exxon!

George Mason University, Law and Economics Center has received $115,000 from ExxonMobil since 1998.

UPDATE: Hicks' Aussie lawyer supports a Supreme Court challenge but warns it could delay the case even further:

"It's time now for the Prime Minister to pick up the phone to the President of the United States and say, 'George clearly this isn't going to be overcome in the next year, David's going to be caught up in the process, enough's enough, the Australian public is demanding his return, please release him'."